


Beacon in the Dark

by Izzu



Series: 추노/Chuno [7]
Category: Chuno | The Slave Hunters, Korean Drama
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-16
Updated: 2012-11-16
Packaged: 2017-11-18 19:18:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/564378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izzu/pseuds/Izzu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I had wanted to write something about Eopbok... yet a part of me also wished some part of Taeha's faction would know what Eopbok's done. So there you go~</p>
    </blockquote>





	Beacon in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> I had wanted to write something about Eopbok... yet a part of me also wished some part of Taeha's faction would know what Eopbok's done. So there you go~

With a harsh push, the officer shoved Eopbok into the cell before locking it behind him. He thought he was alone... before looking up and noticing a battered old man alongside several others, also being locked up with him.

“Pardon my sudden approach, but why are you sent here?” the old man suddenly spoke. Eopbok stared at the old man, puzzled over his intricate mannerism. He knew the Board of Punishment was where all sorts of prisoners were gathered, but the old man seemed a slight ill-placed inside this place.

“I've shot some people; a lot in the past. But this time I shot some people at the palace. Because one of those people there used and betrayed me. I shot and killed a few courtiers as well.”

The old man looked distraught. “Why did you do that?”

Eopbok gave im a blank stare. “Because I could no longer stand still being oppressed. I thought killing off the bad yangban would change things, and I still believed. I had a hope for a better future, yet those yangban used that for a purpose I do not know and gave us false hope to later break us. I can't stand it. If my dying could show those bastard that the slaves are humans, I have no regret to have killed so many.”

The old man nodded. “That was unfortunate and a pity.” The old man sighed. "Indeed it is. Triumph gives you the throne, failure only means treason. Even if your intentions were noble, your deeds be marked with ill when you lost. An unfortunate times we have, for the lost of good men against the villaineous.”

Eopbok continued staring at the old man. The language the old man spoken was not so common, yet not so fanciful and overblown as his former keeper's. It didn't seem to him that the old man was just any yangban.

“You said courtiers...” another prisoner suddenly spoke to him. “It was pointless for me to know, being here; but _who_ have you slain?”

Eopbok spat. “It's was someone I saw that bastard served. The bastard that betrayed me and my comrades and killed them off. That coward hid himself behind another, think that he could evade my pellets. I shot both of them regardless. They said he was the Left State Councillor.”

The last sentence suddenly spurred the other prisoners with surprise and shock. Eopbok looked at them strangely. The old man sighed again, yet this time it seemed that he was relieved as well?

“What a twist of fate indeed! Lee Gyeongshik... dead,” The old man turned towards Eopbok. “It was ill-mannered of me, but young man... you indeed have done a great deed. With this, the souls of the people that man have killed; would be able to rest in peace. And so will us, when _our_ demise arrive.”

The old man started to weep. “Our venture might be in vain, but perhaps now not so bad. Things may change for the better with that man's demise, even if the faction survived. I do wish our world could change. For the sake of men like General Song and his retinues that perished. As well for the righteous, the oppressed...”

“General Song? Song Taeha?” said Eopbok suddenly. His mind recalled the image of the government slave that was beside that rotten slave hunter, Lee Daegil. The man that despite approaching death, appeared to remain stout and defiant.

The old man nodded. “Yes. Such an honourable man. I wished I could have been able to support their cause. To reach for a better future...”

“That man... Song Taeha still lived. He was saved.”

Suddenly the old man was overcome by emotions. “Is it, young man? Thank you... for telling me that,” said the old man gratefully to Eopbok's puzzlement.

 

Taking a longing look towards the faint light emitted from the smaller windows; former Royal Secretary, Lee Jaejoon smiled.

It seemed... hope lives.


End file.
